Manual or automatic gearbox?

Premium

Now, don't bite my head off straight away. I've only been an F1 fan for 2 months. It started when i played F1 2012 on Xbox at a friends place. Since then i bought F1 2013, dusted of my old Logitech-wheel and is 3 seasons into my career.

Now, i do like realism very much, and for each season i've increased the difficulty to make it more challenging. Just about now, you probably wonder why i don't post this in the CM-forum? Here's the reason why:

I want to know what gearbox real drivers use? I thought it was an automatic, but with the possibility to change gears using paddles when needed?

I want my ingameexperience as real as possible. I looked at some real races and noticed that Webber changed gears himself, atleast from the start. I didn't see any other drivers using there hands/fingers in that way. Is Webber oldschool?

Manual gearbox with clutch in the year 2014 is too far, paddleshifting is fine.
Drivers already have their hands full with all kinds of settings which take skill using while going fast aswell, just different type of skill but just as impotant.
I would like to see DRS being useable whenever the driver wants, so people who risk the most, leaving it latest to close it and open it earliest, go fastest. That would be cool.

F1 had them once, automatic upshift @ peak power + several track optimized gear maps, they were banned (with the ban of TC and a FIA issued ECU). CVT transmissions (Williams) were banned too.
Here is some F1 gearbox historyhttp://scarbsf1.com/transmissions.html

Premium

F1 had them once, automatic upshift @ peak power + several track optimized gear maps, they were banned (with the ban of TC and a FIA issued ECU). CVT transmissions (Williams) were banned too.
Here is some F1 gearbox historyhttp://scarbsf1.com/transmissions.html

Electronic clutch/power cut sequential with paddles. Lever operated clutch with adjustable bite point for the starts. Gearing is controlled by specific electronics, "by wire", as in no direct mechanical linkage.